Mail carrier killed in garage of his Oak Park home

A mail carrier and father of four was killed in the garage of his Oak Park home as he left for work early Thursday.

Police said Pedro Gurrola Jr., 41, left his house shortly before 7 a.m. His wife later found his body in the garage of their home in the 800 block of South East Avenue. She called 911 about 10 a.m.

Police said Gurrola suffered blunt force trauma to the head and are investigating his death as a homicide. Police had no one in custody as of Thursday evening, Detective Cmdr. LaDon Reynolds said.

Gurrola's 1997 four-door red or maroon Chevrolet Lumina was missing, but there were no signs of forced entry to the garage, police Chief Rick Tanksley said.

"We don't think that this was a random act," said Tanksley, who would not explain why police think so.

"Don't think there's cause for fear in the community," he said.

Police canvassed the area and talked to neighbors, but had not found any witnesses. They would not release any other details about the death. The Cook County medical examiner's office said an autopsy will be conducted Friday.

The victim's sister, Maribel Gurrola, of Avondale, Ariz., was choking up as she described Gurrola as a kind and helpful person.

"He would help anyone who needed help," she said in a phone interview. "He was always looking to help his family."

She said Gurrola had four children.

A U.S. Postal Service spokesman said Gurrola worked as a part-time mail carrier in Buffalo Grove and had been with the service for about seven years.

Neighbor Beth Puccinelli, who lives across the street from the victim, said she heard noises coming from a different neighbor's home between 6:30 and 7 a.m., about the time police suspect Gurrola was killed. Puccinelli said she initially assumed the noise was the neighbor leaving for work, but later learned it wasn't him.

"I talked to him and asked if someone was in his yard," she said after speaking with police. "But it wasn't him."

Puccinelli said she knows the victim's family.

"They are one of the nicest families on the block," Puccinelli said.

"He was a decent young man," Clematine Leonard, Gurrola's grandmother-in-law, said in a phone interview. "He was a good dad."